Time with the Madman
by ilsdawarby
Summary: Moriarty's not done with Sherlock- in fact, he's far from done. But what happens when he manipulates the person who's always counted?
1. Chapter 1

Molly sighed and pulled the sheet off of another body, identified as Marissa Anderson, just another victim of a street mugging.

"You know, I think I killed her. On accident, of course," Recognizing the voice, Molly spun around as her eyes widened. Her heart was racing. Moriarty grinned, taking another step closer.

"You're supposed to be dead!" Molly cried, her hand instinctively gripping the scalpel on the table next to her tighter. _How did he even get in here?_

"So is Sherlock, but we _both_ know where he is, don't we, Molly?"

She trembled. "I have no idea what you're insinuating." Moriarty took slow, calculated steps until he was standing in front of her, letting a light sigh out.

"Yes, you do! You helped him plan his fake death. Tell me how," his face was centimeters from hers.

"I would never," she hissed, pulling back her arm to stab the scalpel into his. Moriarty grabbed her arm and pried the scalpel from her fist, grinning.

"Impressive! Wonderful! This is going even better than I thought it would! I'll be seeing you, TaMolly!" he threw the scalpel to the ground, letting it clang, then started towards the door.

"Excuse me?"

"TaMolly! Like a tamale, the food? No? Well, I have to be off anyways. Toodles!" the door slammed shut and Molly released the breath she had been holding, leaning against the stretcher the body was on. She had forgotten that the stretcher was on wheels, for it rolled backwards and she fell onto her backside, cursing.

"Should have put those brakes on first," she muttered.

Moriarty laughed and Molly saw his face through the window on the door. He turned and walked away until she could no longer see him. Closing her eyes and pressing her palms to them, Molly sat on the floor, thinking.

_Was I really about to stab him? He may be a criminal, but… still. That's not right. What was the point of coming here, anyways? What does he want with me? I was just a pawn in his game to get Sherlock. I wasn't even a target. Moriarty never had feelings for me and I never fancied him… eventually I'll believe myself._

Down the hall, Moriarty took out his mobile and dialed a familiar number.

"Hello?" the person on the other end asked.

"It's even better than I thought. She attempted to stab me without even thinking. I bet I could have her wrapped around my pinky in no time!"

"But will she go along with it if she had a part to play in Sherlock's faked death? She might be hiding him."

"By the time I'm done with Molly Hooper... well, Sherlock Holmes will be destroyed, that's for sure. Stop questioning me! I'M the boss!" Moriarty hung up and grinned to himself, putting his Union Jack baseball cap on. _I'm not going to be bored for the next few months, if this all goes to plan! _

* * *

**I'm pretty new to the** **Sherlock fandom but I ship Molliarty the hardest of all the ships... not sure if I'm going to continue this so please give feedback as to whether you (the reader) would like this story to continue!**

**I'm currently finishing one Downton story so I can focus on the other, but since it's summer, I wouldn't mind continuing with a schedule of two stories at a time. Mostly it's during the school year that it's harder to keep two stories up. **

**Thanks for reading this short first chapter of what could possibly be a longer story!**


	2. Chapter 2

_One week later_

"The laptop, Molly," Sherlock said, staring at the ceiling. He had sprawled out on the couch with no intentions of getting up, since Mycroft was coming over soon. She sighed and picked the laptop up, handing it to him. _He's so bloody lazy he can't even stand up and walk five steps._

"It wouldn't kill you to say please."

"Please."

"I've already given it to you!" Molly rolled her eyes as he opened the laptop and typed in the password at a rapid fire pace. Walking behind Sherlock, she glanced at the screen and saw a blog that almost anyone would recognize. "Are you checking John's blog?"

The laptop slammed shut.

"No, it was the first page that showed up. Now I have to log in again," _he wouldn't have shut it if that was the first thing that showed up. Liar. He _does_ miss John, despite what he says. _

The doorbell rang and Molly went to open the door quickly, knowing Mycroft didn't like waiting. There was more typing as Sherlock logged in and started visiting whatever websites he frequented.

"Good afternoon Miss Hooper," Mycroft said, walking in with his umbrella in hand, as always.

"I can take your umbrella if you'd like,"

"That's alright, I'll keep it. Sherlock, how long do you plan to keep this up? You can't stay hidden in this flat forever. Eventually someone will come to visit and see you. This isn't some kind of game," not wanting to eavesdrop on their conversation, Molly walked into her bedroom and shut the door, picking up a nice blue dress from where it hung in the closet.

"I can go to Dublin, or maybe the United States. I've got contacts there." Mycroft pursed his lips, likely thinking about the deceased Irene Adler. He didn't want his brother believing a dead woman he loved was across the pond. "Have you heard about Moriarty?" Sherlock continued.

"What about him?" Mycroft fidgeted a bit.

"It seems that he has resumed his activities from before his death. I've been doing some research in my boredom and found out that he's back. There was even a picture," Sherlock turned the laptop around to show his brother the picture, which was pixelated, but definitely Moriarty. "Is he wearing my coat?"

"That does appear to be similar to your coat." Sherlock pressed a few keys and another pixelated picture, featuring Mycroft shaking Moriarty's hand, appeared on the screen.

"Care to explain?"

Luckily for Mycroft, Molly came out of her bedroom at that moment, wearing her blue dress and black high heels. Sherlock rolled his eyes as she picked up her purse, slipping a tube of lipstick and some money into it.

"Going out to somewhere fancy, I see. Is this one gay, too?"

"For your information, I'm going out with friends!" she clenched her jaw and turned to the older Holmes brother. "Stay as long as you please, Mycroft, there's some leftover Thai food in the fridge if you get hungry. I'll be back around eleven, maybe later," Molly glared at Sherlock as she pulled her coat on. Mycroft stood up and shook his head.

"I need to be leaving now anyways, I have business to do. Nice seeing both of you," he smiled and walked out the door, which Molly held open, his umbrella hitting the floor like a cane with each step.

"He's not going to be visiting any time soon," Sherlock said, looking through all the other photos on the website. The title was **MORIARTY IS REAL.**

"I can't _imagine_ why!" she replied, the door slamming behind her.

"Did Molly Hooper just use sarcasm?"

* * *

"He's a cutie. If I wasn't engaged I'd be trying to go out with him!" Caroline said, making Rae laugh. She had pointed at their waiter, who was, in all fairness, very cute.

"Trust me, being married is _so_ much better than you'd think," Rae replied. Molly smiled half-heartedly and took a sip of her wine. Her last boyfriend was Jim, and that wasn't really a _real_ relationship- so technically she hadn't had a boyfriend since uni.

"Molly, having any luck with the men?" Caroline asked, noticing her friend's sudden silence. They were all in their early thirties, Rae even with children, and she believed that everyone should be with someone by the time they turned thirty.

"I had a boyfriend a few months ago, but it turned out he's gay,"

"Is he now your gay best friend?" Rae asked. Molly shook her head and started to laugh.

"No, he's a lot crazier than I thought he was. I think it's better that I broke up with him,"

"Then how did you find out he was gay?"

"You know-" she paused, remembering that Sherlock Holmes was now known as a fraud. "I just kind of sensed it, after a while. Then he told me he was trying to keep it secret because his parents don't know,"

"Using you as a beard, harsh!" Molly laughed at Caroline's remark, hiding her sudden uneasiness.

_ Did I really just lie to my best friends? It was more of a white lie, but a lie nonetheless. Moriarty _is _crazy, though. That's definitely true. I lied, but part of what I said was the truth, so it's justifiable. I think. _

Glancing around the room, Molly froze when her eyes landed on _him. _Jim the gay ex-boyfriend, a.k.a. Moriarty. She quickly glanced away, but when she looked back he wasn't there. Smiling, Molly took another sip of wine and sighed. _Just imagining things, silly lass._

After eating some delicious chicken paprikash, Molly thanked her friends for inviting her to dinner and left the restaurant. She checked her mobile: 2 texts from 'Unknown.'

**You looked lovely at dinner tonight. M**

** Meet me at the pub to your right when you're done. M**

_ I am _not_ going to meet that madman, I am going to go home and tell Sherlock he's still out there. I should have told him last week when Moriarty showed up at the morgue._

Molly started walking towards the Underground station she had arrived at and her mobile bing-ed.

** I would suggest going to the pub, Miss Hooper. M**

She groaned audibly and turned around, taking her time walking to the pub. Molly had no idea what Moriarty had up his sleeve, and she didn't want to be on the receiving end when she found out. When she walked into the pub, a burly man approached her and smiled.

"I'll bring you to see the boss, Miss Hooper," he said, taking her arm and guiding her to a booth in the very back. Jerking her arm away from the man, Molly slid into the booth hesitantly, taking her coat off. As she glanced up her eyes instantly met Moriarty's, which lit up as he smiled.

_ His eyes _do _make him look very innocent and cute… But that doesn't make him any less of an evil criminal!_

"You can go now, Jacobs. I doubt we'll be getting any _trouble,"_ Moriarty said. The burly man nodded and walked away to the bar, joining a friend who handed him a pint. Molly's phone bing-ed.

**I'm hungry. SH**

** I said there was Thai food in the fridge! And stop switching mobiles, it's quite annoying.**

** I don't like Thai food. SH**

** Then ORDER something.**

** Order something for me. Something I'll like. SH**

** I'm sure you can do that yourself. The take-out numbers are on the fridge.**

** I'm not hungry anymore. SH**

Molly rolled her eyes and sighed, shoving her mobile back into her purse. Moriarty had been watching as she texted Sherlock, deducing who it was by the frustration and annoyance evident on her face.

"Getting annoyed with someone?"

"Just a friend. What do you want from me?"

"Who's the friend?" Molly stiffened and glanced away at a telly that was showing a football game.

"I don't think you need to know that,"

"It was Sherlock, wasn't it?"

"No!"

"You're lying!" Moriarty sang, grinning. She shook her head and clenched her jaw.

"Listen, if you made me come here just to toy with me, I'm leaving,"

"I wouldn't do that if I were you." he said ominously. Molly's attention left the TV screen and she stared at him.

"Tell me why you're so interested in me as of late. Last time the only reason you dated me was to meet Sherlock. Well, he's dead now! So it's not like you can do that again," _How have I become such a liar tonight?_

"I like you Molly, that's all. Can't a guy spend time with a girl he likes?" this comment caused Molly to blush uncontrollably, and she pressed her hands to her cheeks to cool them. Moriarty reached out and took her hands, pulling them halfway across the table. She froze, unsure of what he was about to do. "You're FREEZING!" he exclaimed, rubbing his thumbs along her knuckles. Molly shuddered with disgust and enjoyed the feeling at the same time. His somewhat calloused hands made hers feel even more delicate.

Moriarty studied the fear that was etched onto her face- mouth slightly agape, wide brown eyes staring at their hands, thin brows slightly furrowed. He relished in her fear- it kept her submissive to him, so that he could play with her like putty in his hands.

Realizing that she was holding hands with _the_ consulting criminal, Molly yanked her hands from the grasp of his and pulled her coat on.

"I'm going to leave, I-" Moriarty grabbed her wrist.

"Tell me how you helped him survive."

"Or what?"

"I won't let you leave."

"You don't want to cause a scene in front of all these people, do you?" she tore her wrist away and stood up, hurrying out of the bar. As soon as Molly got outside, she pulled her heels off and ran to the Underground station, putting her Oyster card in the machine and barely making the train.

_ What the hell were you thinking, Molly Hooper? That man's insane! You have no idea what he's done and you let him hold your hands? Who even knows what he's going to try next…_

* * *

The door unlocked and Molly walked in, but Sherlock didn't bother to look up from the website he had been on since she had left.

"Did you find something to eat?" she asked, hanging her coat up and setting her purse on the counter.

"I told you, Molly, I'm not hungry,"

"You're going to starve if you don't eat something!"

"It's half past eleven."

_"And?"_

"You said you'd be home around eleven. Also, your face is the slightest bit flushed, so I'd say you were running and it's cold outside. What made you-"

"My _God, _Sherlock, I took a later train!" Molly retreated to her bedroom, slamming the door behind herself. Inside, she threw herself onto the bed and laid there for a while before getting up to change and take off her makeup.

_ It's been a long night._

* * *

**There was more feedback to chapter one than I thought there would be, so Time with the Madman continues!**


	3. Chapter 3

"How's your job over at the surgery going?" Molly asked, adjusting the view on her microscope. She was inspecting skin specimens of someone who had been infected by _necrotizing fasciitis_ and subsequently died.

"Not bad, but not anything extraordinary. It's a bit awkward at times with Sarah, but we've managed to overcome most of it."

"That's good; I remember her being nice,"

"I don't think you met Sarah."

"Wasn't she at the Christmas party?"

"No, that was… Jeanette." John said, thinking about it. He _hoped_ it had been Jeanette.

"Right," there was a lull in the conversation, and Molly felt no need to keep it going. She assumed John didn't either, and switched her slide out for another.

John had been visiting Molly at work when he wasn't working recently to keep himself busy. She didn't mind, since he was nice enough and didn't mess with samples like Sherlock did. Besides, she could tell John needed the companionship. It was getting to the point where he was almost ecstatic to talk to someone other than Mrs. Hudson.

"I'm going to go run by the cafeteria, care for anything?" John asked.

"Some crisps and a coffee would be lovely," Molly pulled off her gloves, walked over to her purse and rummaged through it, taking out some money and handing it to him.

"Be back soon," he said, leaving the lab. Grabbing new gloves and pulling them on, Molly watched him walk down the hall. She sighed and sat back down on her stool, tweaking the magnification again.

"You should be careful with those samples." Molly jumped, knocking over the microscope and cracking one of the slides. Looking to her right, she saw Moriarty leaning against the wall, hands in his pockets. Per usual, he was wearing a nice suit and tie.

"If it wasn't for somebody _scaring_ me, I would be!" she said, picking the microscope up and turning it off, then putting the slides in a 'CONTAMINATED SPECIMENS' bag.

"Could I have those slides?"

"No, they're hospital property, and like you said, you have to be careful with them." Walking over to the cart with other bags of slides, Molly placed the bag on the top next to a bag that just so happened to have Sherlock's samples. She turned around to see Moriarty sitting on her stool, smiling at her.

"What do you want?" Molly asked, pulling her gloves off.

"You know."

"You think I do, but I don't! Sherlock is _dead. _He died, and the only person who knows anything is John, because he was who Sherlock made the suicide call to,"

"Somehow, I don't BELIEVE THAT!" he yelled. Molly froze, eyes wide, and stared at him. She had heard from Sherlock what Moriarty could be like, but hadn't seen it until now. And was she terrified. "You know what I can do, Molly. Why don't you just tell me?" Moriarty stood up and walked over to her, placing his hands on the table behind her, trapping Molly where she was standing.

"I don't know anything!" she said, trying not to show her fear.

He could smell it.

"Mycroft already told me Sherlock's alive and that he's staying with you. The jig is up, Miss Hooper," he whispered into her ear. Molly squeezed her eyes shut, hoping that when she opened them she would be in her bed at home. She wasn't.

"I can't tell you."

"I'm very sure you can," Moriarty grabbed her upper arm and squeezed it.

"I barely know anything; most of the plan was kept a secret, even from me. The only part I was really involved with was the aftermath and forging a death certificate, I swear!" cold brown eyes bore into sweet ones.

"Hm. I can believe that." He released his grip on Molly's arm, letting his hand slip back down to the table. "Spending time with Sherlock's human recently, I see,"

"Excuse me?"

"Oh, that's right- you're regular as well. I don't mean that as an insult, it's just what you are," Molly's brow furrowed and she moved to the desk, pulling the drawer open and looking for something sharp. "You're so cute, looking for something to stab me with. That didn't work the first time, Molly," Moriarty shook his head, a smug smile on his face.

"Look, I told you what you wanted to know. What the hell do you want?"

"Even you should be able to deduce this."

"I'm not a consulting detective, or consulting criminal, or consulting _anything!_ I like math, and I like science. Problems with all but one, maybe two, variables given to me. A definite answer." He took a step closer to her, then another.

"Step out of the box, Molly Hooper," Moriarty leaned in and softly, gently, pressed his lips to hers. Molly froze, before pushing him away and stumbling backwards into a cabinet.

"Get… get out! Get out of here!" she pointed at the door, but he just smiled and slipped his hands into his pockets.

"You want me, though you don't realize it. When the time comes, you'll want me so bad you'll be begging on your knees. You're going to regret not taking me when you had the chance!" with that, Moriarty turned on his heel and left the lab, taking a right. Pressing her fingers to her lips, Molly watched him, and let out the breath she had been holding when he left her line of vision.

_ I will never want Jim Moriarty… and I will never admit to liking what just happened._

John entered the lab and set down Molly's bag of crisps and cup of coffee on the table.

"You look like you've seen a ghost," he said, taking a bite of his pizza. She laughed nervously.

"Just a bug, had a bit of a fright!" Molly sat down on her stool and opened the bag of crisps, shoving two into her mouth.

"I would have killed it if you had waited,"

"It's alright, John, I think I can handle a bug if I work with corpses all the time," the two shared a smile and she took a sip of the scalding hot coffee. It burned on the way down, but Molly didn't notice. Her thoughts were with Moriarty. As she glanced at the cart, Molly noticed that one of the bags happened to be missing.

The bag containing Sherlock's samples.


	4. Chapter 4

Molly sighed and watched the cloud of breath that was in front of her face as it floated to the right, blown by the chilly wind.

She was waiting.

Waiting for Moriarty. And hopefully, if he showed up, she would confront him about taking Sherlock's samples from her lab. _My lab, _Molly thought. They had never made a deal to meet up, but she had a feeling if she waited, he would eventually arrive. He had initiated all of their past encounters, now it was up to her to start one.

Molly's phone began to ring and she glanced at it, watching **Unknown** pop up on the screen. Her heart raced in anticipation of it being Moriarty. The chance she'd been waiting for.

"Hello?" she answered, hoping she sounded cool and collected.

"Molly, what are you doing? No, never mind, this is important. I need those samples of the necrotizing fasciitis infected skin." Sherlock's voice made Molly groan internally and she slumped back against the bench, sighing.

"It's Sunday, Sherlock. The morgue is closed, unless there's an emergency."

"This_ is_ an emergency! You can go open your lab under the pretense and-"

"You know what, Sherlock? You're like a child. Everything is me, me, me! But that's not what the world is like. I'm not alive to do your bidding. God knows I'm already doing enough hiding you in my flat. I can get you the samples tomorrow."

"Fine." The line ended and Molly smiled to herself for being able to shut Sherlock up for once. That didn't happen very often, and it was always unexpected when one could. However, the silence never lasted long. He would be calling about something else within an hour, she supposed.

"He's bothering you, isn't he?" Molly jumped, then cursed quietly. _Why does he always put me on edge? I need to be calm. Cool and collected. _Placing her phone back in her bag, she pulled her purse closer and set it on her lap. It wouldn't be wise to let Moriarty get into her belongings again.

"You took a bag of samples, and I need them back." She stared at a few kids running around and playing in the slushy snow. Unlike Molly, they were free, unburdened.

"Really? Why? Are they important?"

"They're from a corpse and I have to give the autopsy results soon."

"We can make an arrangement, I believe, Miss Hooper."

"Good! Because my job is pretty important, as are the samples."

"But you're lying."

"What? No, no, I'm not!" _You're being too defensive! Now it seems like you _are_ lying, which you are, but… that's not the point, get back on task! _"They're important samples, and I need them for an autopsy," _They are important… and yes, they're from an autopsy, but I don't need them _now. _So I'm not completely lying. _

"If you say so!" Moriarty sang, his tone changing completely. Molly turned to give him an odd look, surprised by the sudden change. _What the hell? _"But I know you like me, Molly. You don't have to be afraid to admit it," now he was speaking in a hushed, low voice, for a child ran by them with a football.

"I liked Jim from IT. I do _not_ like Jim Moriarty," Molly stubbornly said, refusing to acknowledge that, yes, a part of her did like Jim Moriarty. He was something she craved to be- evil. All her life, she had been mousy, shy Molly Hooper, the girl who often went unnoticed. Although it had been to get Sherlock's attention, Jim noticed her. He was different from all her other boyfriends, who had been just as docile as her, or at least now he was.

"Deep down, you wish you were like me. You wish you could work up the nerve to do something bad for once," Moriarty teased, almost reading her mind. Huffing, Molly stood up.

"I don't have time for this, I want- _need-_ the samples. Let's go get them so we-" she stopped when Moriarty grabbed her wrist and yanked her back down to a sitting position. He seemed agitated now, an unfriendly smile spreading across his face.

"Nuh uh-uh! I don't think so! We play by my rules."

"Who said we were playing anything?" he leaned in until his lips were pressed against Molly's ear, left unprotected by her tied-up hair. She froze, almost letting herself enjoy the sensation never felt before.

"You see, Miss Hooper," Moriarty's lips tickled her ear, "this is all a game. And when I play games, I _always_ win," Molly shivered as a black sedan pulled up to the curb, Moriarty pulling her up and heading towards it. _Don't let him sense your fear. _

But this time, Molly was slightly excited for the adventure.

"Sebastian, head to the penthouse." Moriarty ordered as they slid into the backseat.

* * *

**Inspiration finally struck, and this chapter was written! Hopefully it lives up to expectations. Jim gets a little crazier in this chapter, but I was up the challenge of writing that. It was kind of fun :) Sorry this chapter is a little shorter- but it's not by much! I promise!  
**


End file.
